Suno CEO Mikey Shulman defends interactive AI music as legal challenges continue

Mikey Shulman, CEO and co-founder of generative AI music company Suno, has defended the firm’s vision of “music you play with, not just play” while speaking from his home in the US as the company faces legal and commercial scrutiny. Suno, founded just over two years ago, lets users create entire songs from a few text prompts.

The service does not allow prompts naming a specific pop star, but asking for styles such as “stadium-level confessional pop-country” that reference relationships or rivalries can produce songs in a similar vein, the company says. Commercially Suno raised $250m in November, taking its valuation to $2.45bn, though a leaked investor presentation suggested it had about 1 million paying subscribers; the standard monthly plan costs £8.25.

Legally, Suno was sued by the RIAA on behalf of major US labels in June 2024 and by German collection society GEMA the following January, with both claiming the company trained its models on copyrighted music without licences. Suno has said it trained models on “medium- and high-quality music we can find on the open internet” and initially argued that this use was fair use; the RIAA disagrees.

Controversies have included a small number of extremist or abusive tracks flagged by the Anti-Defamation League, which Shulman said amounted to “three songs that had a combined 10 plays,” and he added Suno has tightened safeguards.

Key Topics

Tech, Suno, Mikey Shulman, Riaa, Gema, Warner Music